Pitt plays a hit man in “Killing Them Softly,” which juxtaposes violence with political commentary. Photo:

Pitt plays a hit man in “Killing Them Softly,” which juxtaposes violence with political commentary. (
)

Yes we can — shoot this mob stool pigeon in the face!

“Killing Them Softly,” opening Friday, combines two genres that on their face wouldn’t necessarily seem to go together: the violent crime thriller and the political satire.

But writer-director Andrew Dominik says it’s not such a great leap.

“I always felt that crime films are about the capitalist ideal,” Dominik says. “It’s the only genre where it’s perfectly acceptable for characters to only care about money, and they seem more like people I know than romantic comedies or superhero films.”

“Killing Them Softly” — Roberta Flack connotations aside — is about a pair of inept criminals (Scoot McNairy and Ben Mendelsohn) who rob an underground poker game run by a powerful mob boss. They then find themselves on the run as the boss’ proxy (Richard Jenkins) calls in a stoic hit man (Brad Pitt) to clean up the mess and liquidate everyone involved.

The story is based on a 1970s novel called “Cogan’s Trade” by George V. Higgins, but Dominik decided to set the action during the 2008 presidential campaign in order to draw parallels with modern-day issues. “Killing Them Softly” opens with footage of Barack Obama speaking at the Democratic National Convention, and clips of Obama and George W. Bush play on televisions in many scenes creating a kind of meta-narrative on the crime-related main story.

For example, as the poker heist goes down, Bush says from a TV in the room, “This is an extraordinary period for America’s economy.”

“I originally imagined the film as a drama, but as I got into it, it struck me that this was a story of an economic crisis,” Dominik says. “The crisis was in a criminal economy supported by gambling and the problem was caused by a failure to regulate. In other words, a microcosm of the larger story unfolding in America at the time.”

Pitt, who also produced the film, says one of the reasons he signed up was because of the story’s subtext. He and his company, Plan B, are looking for projects that “say something about our time.”

“I felt upon reading this that it was making a commentary,” he said at the Cannes Film Festival in May. “This commentary, the way it’s done in this film, you believe you’re watching a gangster film. It wasn’t until the end that things coalesced for me as far as the direction this film was pointing to overall, saying something about the macro world.”

As to what exactly it’s saying might be open to interpretation. Lefties might see it as a call for regulation and a plea for cooperation, conservatives as an affirmation of capitalistic culture and the Randian right of a man to get his.

At one point, as the president talks about unity on a bar TV, Pitt’s character fires off a cynical monologue, saying, “America is not a country, it’s a business,” and “In America, you’re on your own.”

For the record, Dominik, an Aussie, says he’s an Obama supporter.

“I think the movie isn’t anti-

capitalist; it’s anti-cronyist,” says Dominik, who previously worked with Pitt in 2007’s “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.”

Pitt says “Killing Them Softly” is not a knock on the president, noting that he “was there that night in Chicago when Obama won [in 2008]. It was an amazing night, people out in the street, connected.” The use of the Obama speeches in the movie was not “a cynical look back at a statement of failure but as a real expression of hope,” he said in May.

It’s no surprise that “Killing Them Softly” is coming out in an election year — though a bit later than Dominik would have liked. The film was originally scheduled to bow Oct. 19, but after the July 20 Colorado movie theater shooting, exhibitors became squeamish about showing the gun-heavy trailer. So “Killing Them Softly” was pushed back.

“I thought it should have come out before the election,” Dominik says.

See it Friday, and because it’s not in 3-D, even in this economy you shouldn’t have to knock over a card game to afford a ticket.